As Himself: Several prominent American cable news personalities appear as themselves commenting on Underwood's actions including Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, and Stephen Colbert (in a final appearance in character)

George Hearst from Deadwood is Raymond Tusk. These two roles of Gerald McRaney's are quite similar: both are fantastically wealthy businessmen who use political corruption and strongarm tactics to advance their empires. While at first they seem to be surprisingly down-to-earth and humble, they are actually ruthless and maniacally greedy.

There are at least three actors shared with Deadwood: McRaney, Molly Parker (Jackie Sharp), and Kim Dickens.

Mickey Doyle is hired to write a panegyric book about the President's policies

Before Heather Dunbar became one of Frank's toughest opponents, she tried to make Liz Lemon join her fight club.

Anagrams

The name "Peter Russo" is an anagram for "pressure to," which is central to Underwood's purpose for Russo. Underwood wanted the VP spot, but the problem was the VP was still occupying that position. Knowing the VP was former Governor of Pennsylvania, Underwood expertly crafted a house of cards candidate for the Governor race (Russo), with the sole purpose of collapsing Russo's life through overwhelming pressure from drugs, alcohol and fast women. Pressure was also applied to the VP to feel like an outsider as VP, but to generate nostalgia for the old days he loved as Governor. When Russo imploded, by design, Underwood simply convinced the VP to run for Governor because his people needed him.

Name's the Same: Rather bizarrely, Doug Stamper is the only character to have the same name as their British counterpart (Tim Stamper), though only the last one. Technically, Frank does this too, as his real first name is Francis and his wife calls him Francis, but everyone else calls him Frank because that's what a Southern gentleman would insist you address him as.

One of Us: Frank is an avid fan of video games, specifically first person shooters, that he plays at night to help relax. He also has a collection of Gears of War action figures, stolen from Peter Russo's son, that he keeps in his office desk and uses as props to intimidate a pair of junior congressmen to supporting the Watershed bill. The first thing he notices when he visits Peter Russo's condo is his son's PSVita lying on the coffee table. Frank picks it up like a kid on Christmas morning and even asks Peter what games he has for it before finally setting it down.

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